One of the things I notice is that when I engage with folks, they seem to be more goal oriented. And don’t get me wrong – I encourage people to have a personal vision and goals. Goals to reach their vision and plans to reach their goals.

But one of the things I’ve noticed is that when the goal is completed it take a long time to develop another set of goals. In our busy lives as leaders, it takes us a while to get back to goal setting. Where individuals fail to get back into their personal development – this is where boredom and complacency grow.

So I think it’s vital that we change our mentality to become more growth oriented than goal oriented. My friend and mentor, John Maxwell, in the book ‘The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership’, calls this the law of process where he writes that:

‘Leadership is not built in a day, but it’s built daily.’

So now that we’ve spent the time to develop, what’s the best way to market our talents? And how do we take all that expertise and use it to have successful career management?

I wanted to find somebody that was going to be able to give us some guidance and tips on good career management.

So our guest today is Jasmine Briggs. She is a Career Coach, with an extensive background in recruitment, workforce development, staffing and career counselling. She works with professionals around the country on developing their dream careers. Jasmine’s expertise is in career exploration, setting career goals, and employment search techniques.

How important is good career management to the success of professional development?

Very important. Jasmine notes that we’ve moved away from a time where companies manage our career so that we have to manage it ourselves.

We must avoid leaving our careers on autopilot by setting growth goals in terms of where we see our careers going and the steps we need to take to get there.

Of course, as leaders, we must be invested in our workforce to help them be successful in their careers, but it’s important to remember that our first employee is yourself and that should be our first priority.

How do you set up a good framework to help your career grow?

It starts with an exploration of what is important to you and what you want to contribute to the world, says Jasmine.

Once you know what you’re looking to contribute, you can then turn that into an overall vision for your career. And once you have a vision, you can’t leave it stagnant – you must check in with it every six months or so to make sure that the vision hasn’t changed. Or if it has changed to update it to where you are right now.

Our environments are constantly changing, so it is important to always be revisiting your vision to ensure it is relevant to you and your current position.

How to create your career vision

Jasmine advises starting with a check-in date. This is an opportunity every three to six months to check in with your vision, looking at your career goals, and seeing what steps you need to take in order to align with those goals.

It’s about constantly being engaged with your career, your network, and your industry.

By keeping up with how the industry is changing and how you are personally changing and developing professionally, you can see opportunities to market yourself and show yourself to be an expert in your field.

A strong professional network is vital to career management and progression.

Look for mentors to aid career management

Having someone available that has a pulse on what’s going on in the industry and someone you can look to for advice is extremely valuable.

You want to have mentors within and outside of your company.

Personal development vs. professional development

Personal development, learning soft skills that assist in your career, are very important, says Jasmine because people hire people.

When Jasmine does training sessions with clients, she tells them that she can train them to do anything, but she wants to hire someone that she can spend 8+ hours per day with.

So by developing soft skills like emotional intelligence and leadership skills, it helps to connect with people, which contributes to their decision making, allowing them to trust you in leadership roles within their organisation.

What is the biggest misconception in career management?

Jasmine believes that the biggest misconception is thinking that you don’t have to consider career management – that your career will naturally flow.

It’s about not only setting goals but speaking up about it. If nobody knows that you are looking to grow then nobody is going to notice!

Sharing a desire to take development courses, a desire to take responsibility for a project – these are important things to share to allow yourself the opportunity to move your career forward.

Secondarily, sharing this intent with a manager also gives you an accountability partner, which is really important in being able to reach those goals.

How do you know when you are on the right career path?

Jasmine encourages people to check in with yourself. Being self-aware, thinking about your current state and where you would like to be. If you are on the fence about your current role and whether to go for that next position, Jasmine says go for it.

It’s through that process of going for the next position that you learn the skills and get the experience you need to continue to grow. And by going through that process of building your skills, you’re growing your network.

Top 3 tips for good career management

Build yourself on LinkedIn – perfect your profile and build an engagement strategy where you are posting and interacting with the community and building your network.

Do some self-exploration to identify your top strengths and weaknesses and identify areas where you would like to grow and develop through training.

Continue to network – within your company and outside of it. At the end of the day, it’s about who you know and the best way to get into a new company is through a referral.

You can reach Jasmine via email – jasmine at jasminebriggs.com. She also has a Facebook group for female leadership and professional development called Women Create. Or find her on Twitter @JasmineBriggs1